


Distant Skies

by Moonlitgems



Series: Moon's Ermin Week (EAauweek) 2018 [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, EAauweek, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlitgems/pseuds/Moonlitgems
Summary: After returning home from a business trip, all Armin wanted to do was to go out and admire the sunset over the ocean. What he wasn't expecting was to fall for a mysterious man, he met eyes with through his camera's viewfinder. With one touch, sealed away memories start to resurface and Armin has to reevaluate which memories actually belong to him and which belong to his past self.





	Distant Skies

**Author's Note:**

> Day1: Reincarnation
> 
> Happy Birthday to Armin!!!! <3
> 
> I also posted a link on Tumblr, but I'm not sure it the EAauweek tag is working for me.
> 
> Despite that Enjoy!!!!

There was something about the ocean that captivated him. Ever since he was a small child, he had a great desire to travel the world and see many different places and things. To learn all about the different cultures of humanity, to understand the conflict that revolved around them. But, the ocean was something that always took his breath away. It gave him a desire to see the worlds shorelines and to immortalize it in a photograph. Somewhere along the line it have developed into a passion to learn about other countries' cultures. To take photograph to show the other parts of the world the wonders and sometimes terrors that existed had become his dream. And, becoming a photojournalist made that dream come true.

Now, at twenty-six years old, Armin Reiss was living it. He traveled the world for his work, his passport filled with exotic places many people had not even heard of. Despite the many stares because his hair was lighter than most blonds, almost a pure white naturally, he was usually welcomed with open arms and curiosity. Thanks to this, he tasted the cultures of the east-savored the cultures of the south, sought out the wonders of the north and west, but he always came back to this sea shore.

It was his home. A place, where he felt a great sense of belonging. He knew the shoreline like the back of his hand and often walked along it to take photos when he returned from trips. That was how Armin always liked to welcome himself home. The first time he'd taken a photograph of the place, he'd known that this was where he wanted to live. He didn't have to travel far from his house to find a place to take his commemorative. It was a small slope that out looked a cliff.

It was a sixty meter drop, if you looked down that cliff to the ocean below. Armin didn't particularly like getting too close to the edge, preferring to stay up on the slope. It wasn't that he didn't like the view. There was just something about being that high up that gave him a bad feeling. An itch under his skin crawled itself across his shoulders as he thought about it. The trees, that were dense in this part of the woods, broke away giving you just the right amount of clearing to see out into the ocean, framing the view like a natural frame. It was darker where he was standing because of all the leaves, but the sun shown through the opening dying everything in a magical shade of warm embers. It was a lame and some what cliché scene, but he could sit there for hours, just staring at it.

It was just what he wanted to for the image for a puzzle, he was working on for his niece. The standoffish girl loved the sunsets, rises, and puzzles that challenged her mind. The way the sky changed colors as the light particles shined through the atmosphere, always seemed to ease her tensions. The sunset he was standing in front of would be the perfect challenge for her.

He pulled his camera out and began setting his camera to take a picture. When it was set for the first set of photos, he looked through his viewfinder and saw a man walking toward the edge. The site of him standing there, hit Armin with a complex feeling of anxiety. It was extremely dangerous to be standing that close. There were even signs along the cliff line that warned you not to get so close. It was stupid of him to do, but he decided he should call out to the man.

“Hey! That cliff side is very unstable.” He called out to the man, not wanting to be a witness to an accident, or worse. To his surprise the man turned to look at him with a slightly hollow expression.

The colors painted him in the colors of the sunset, melting him into the composition, like he was born there. It was beautiful, but there was something sad about it. Armin lowered his camera, letting it hang around his neck as the man approached the bottom of the slop. The two of them just sort of stared at each other for a moment, an awkward air settling around them.

Why wasn't he saying anything, Armin thought, feeling a bit embarrassed that he'd called out to this person. “It's rude to just stare at someone, you know,” He said, feeling his cheeks burn as he looked away from the long haired man staring up at him. “You were also in the way of my photograph,” He said, looking back at the sun set.

“Don't let me stop you, then,” The man said, motioning out to the spot he'd been standing. He said nothing more and continued to stare up at Armin

“The moment has passed.” He said moving to leave before it got anymore uncomfortable. He moved to start down the path that would lead him down the slope, but he felt his foot slip.

The world was spinning after that as he rolled down the slope, hitting the ground at the bottom hard. It went black for a moment before his eyes snapped open. He wondered if he'd fainted from impact as he registered the burning sensation all over his body. It took him a minute to even realize that he'd been rolled onto his back and he let out a groan from the rush it gave his head, making his surroundings spin faster and his head to throb.

“Hey! Can you hear me?” A voice called softly out to him as his eyes focused enough for him to see the top of the slope. “Do I need to call an ambulance?” The man could be seen kneeling off to his left, holding his hands out, as though he were afraid to touch him. After a few seconds of making sure the world wouldn't riot against him, Armin slowly sat up and found himself face to face with the man, that had leaned closer to help him keep steady.

The first thoughts were that this man was truly gorgeous. His long hair seemed to curve attractively around his face. With the way he was dressed he could tell that the man was lean and somewhat muscular. The most noticeable thing about him was his eyes, of course. From far away they seemed sad, but close up, the intensity in them felt suffocating. His second thought was that his face hurt like a bitch.

“No,” He said, wiping at his face to get rid of the burning wet sensation. To his surprise, he pulled his hand away he saw that there was blood. He stared at it a bit of a daze, as he pushed the pain away and swallowed the underlying panic. It wasn't until a hand was gingerly placed onto his shoulder did his snap his gaze away from his reddened hand. “Don't touch me!” It was completely by reflex, but he'd shouted at the man.

The shocked look that passed across their face, quickly faded to concern as Armin put his hand onto the spot Eren had touched. Armin was embarrassed because he'd yelled. Even more so, when he saw the look of concern. He was horrible at interacting with people alone like this. It was easier when he was in a group, like on his trips. He had assistants to help him, if he got stuck while talking, translators that helped explain things, if he messed up a word. In his personal life, there were no such things and he was incredibly awkward. He didn't like being touched, but it wasn't an excuse. That was not how he was raised and it was not how he should act toward strangers. He was an adult, a professional.

“Sorry for yelling. It just hurt.” But, he wasn't adult enough to own up to his mistake and he was ashamed for that. There was no way he could explain why he reacted like that, without freaking the man out.

“I bet...That looked like one hell of a tumble.” He shifted as he spoke to Armin and it was obvious that the guy was uncomfortable with something.

“It's not something I recommend.” It hurt, the more he moved, but he didn't want to let this stranger worry about him any further. The fact he'd fallen down moments after warning someone about falling off the cliff was enough embarrassment. If he were to get pity from this sad eyed person, then he wouldn't be able to live with himself. “I don't think I broke anything though,” Armin said, while he wiped the blood away with his long sleeve. “I must've just hit my nose when I face planted.” A slight smile formed on the man's face, relief reflected in his posture and eyes as he stood.

“I'm glad you're okay,” He said moving off to the side to pick something up. “But, you should take it easy until you're sure you're okay. Here, your camera.” The man spoke to him, watching him intently as Armin reached out to take the object. Instantly, he saw that the lens was cracked in cursed under his breath. Muttering about his sister killing him, he looked at the rest of the camera to make sure there wasn't any damage. “Sorry about your camera. My name's Eren. I just moved into the area.” He said rubbing at the back of his head.

“Armin.” He didn't say anything more as he moved to stand up, but he sort of leaned to far to the right and fell back down.

“Hey, didn't I just say to take it easy?” Eren said, holding out his hand to Armin. It took Armin a moment to realize Eren was offering to help him up.

“Yeah.” Reaching out and taking his hand with his cleaner one.

The world flashed white around him, making him feel like his body was too heavy. It was like a head rush, but images of a foreign land flashed across his mind. Bloody death filled lands. People screaming. Soldiers in strange uniforms fighting against giant enemies. Allies being devoured right before his very eyes. Then he found himself standing in front of a young man around his age. They stared at each other with tension flowing around them like electricity. Panic filled him as the man took a step forward and he found himself ripping his hand away from Eren's.

The two of them stood there, staring at their hands for a moment. Warning bells were going off in Armin's head. What sort of vision was that. What did it mean. He didn't know that answer, but it wasn't normal. That 'vision', or what ever it was, was not supposed to have happened. It was dangerous. If Eren saw it too and asked questions, he wouldn't be allowed to answer any of them. He had to leave and quick.

Pain be damned, he thought, forcing himself to stand, preparing to create distance between the two of them. Eren just stood there looking at his hands. There was no hint of that complex emotion that was on the other man's face. It looked more like a child that had just seen a monster in his closet. He looked terrified. Then Eren turn his eyes up to Armin, his brows furrowing as though he was processing what had just happened.

“Did you see that?” Quickly shaking his head, Armin started to back away from Eren, not taking his eyes off the man.

“I'm sorry to cut our conversation short.” He said, holding his camera tightly against his chest. “It's getting dark, so I need to go now. Stay away from the cliff side.” Quickly turning away, he tried to run off, but he felt Eren grab his elbow.

“No, wait!” Eren moved a lot faster than Armin anticipated, pulling back and forcing them to stand face to face. “You saw it, right? Right?” Armin couldn't look the man in the face. “There-There was so-so much blood,” He said, causing Armin to glance at the panicked face Eren was making. “I-I don't-” His face screamed to tell him he wasn't crazy, to tell him that Armin had seen it too.

“Let go of me.” He shouted as he slammed his foot into Eren's knee and elbowing him in the chest. The man instantly let him go, practically toppling over from the impacts. “S-Sorry-just forget what you just saw,” He said, feeling bad that he'd attacked a stranger, before taking off into the woods. His camera tightly tucked under his arm, he weaved through the woods he knew, so well, hoping that Eren would not follow him.

It was cowardly to run away, but there was nothing he could do. What they'd just seen was something that they had no right to. It was a past that didn't belong to him. They were all long gone. That man he saw was gone. Those moments was not his to live; the choices that were made were not his to make. He was only a bystander looking through a lens. Capturing the moments of the past in his mind like a photograph at the touch of another. It was something he'd only heard of from his parents. He'd never actually thought he'd experience it.

Only with the Cognitive Titans could a Reiss have this experience. The Titans had been eliminated and the world had finally found peace. The Cognitive and all the other Titans that followed him had stopped being reborn. There was no way what they saw was a past memory, but at the same time he knew that it was.

But, how was it possible? He thought stepping onto his street from the woods. His gaze turned back into the woods that were now growing dark. The sunset was over and night was falling. Silently, he hoped that Eren would be able to find his way back home. The day had been a long one and he just wanted to forget all about what had just happened.

Those people, their moments in time, how they all suffered. How they all died. He just wanted to live his life without worrying about being consumed by them. He'd succeeded in doing so, for so long, but that man, just one touch had set him off. He could now recall fragmented memories of a young soldier. They made no sense, but filled his mind with a deep sadness.

It was like remembering things from his own past now, but the places were unfamiliar to him. The more he tried to force it out of his mind, the more he recalled the look in the man's eyes-recalling the stare being of someone who'd given up on everything but his own goal. It wasn't until he was standing at his door, did he give in. There was nothing that could be done now, but he couldn't help but to wonder the circumstances. There had been a lot of tension in that memory, something broken there. It was the strangest thing to experience without knowing the circumstances.

“Arlert...Can you hear me?” When he'd stepped into his mudroom, he called out the soldier, knowing full well, whose memories he'd just seen.

There was no answer. It made him laugh at how stupid calling out to a dead person was. He hadn't known what he expected-The man himself to walk up to him and to start talking to him? This was reality, not a foolish book. Even if it was a past life reflected with the powers his family possessed. It didn't mean that he could talk to someone who'd been dead for hundreds of years.

“Why did he look at you that way,” Armin said, continuing to talk to himself, despite himself. “And what sort of face were you giving back to him. Did you know what he intended to do? Were you going to let him do it or did you fight for compromise til your last breath?”

There was no answer, no other memories that came to his mind. The man, he called out to, did not respond and that's how it should be. The dead do not come back to life. He still couldn't shake off that look the other man's eyes, however. The way he looked right through the man. It was like he looked right at Armin, not even seeing the man of the past. It was terrifying. The feelings that trickled down into his mind from that memory were so confusing.

This was something that wasn't meant to be understood. Just recalling it and letting himself get caught up in the emotions of the other person was something he knew better than to do. The more you remember, the easier it was for those memories to have influence on your current self. He would not lose himself to those memories. This 'self' he'd worked so hard to create, would be swallowed up in an instant. Just like his sister's had. He would end up like her.

“I need a drink.” He said, louder than he had intended, but it was all just to drown out the mixed up thoughts about their past and his present.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of trouble deciding on a plot for this day. I had so many ideas, but they all sort of meshed together with the other days, or they were going to take to long to create a solid plot. I wrote like three different soulmate one-shots, but didn't like how they turned out. So, I looked at some of my abandoned stories (I have tons of them cause I'm a plot bunny and I never can stay focused) and found this one. It was originally called something else, but I changed it to Distant Skies, because it seemed to suit the theme better for me. I hope you can see the Reincarnation theme in this. It's there, if you squint past the Reiss plot line. =w= I promise.


End file.
